Web Design Degree

The internet continues to shape the world around us in deeper and deeper ways. As such, the
working knowledge required to help shape it has gotten more complicated in recent years. If
you’d like to work in web design or web development, your best shot is to get a web design
degree.

Why Study Web Design?

The internet touches our lives in many ways, from the news we receive online to the business
proposals we share over tablets to the social networking we do on our smartphones. Web design, then,
is an exciting prospect for many international students, allowing them to affect and improve the
world we live in. But as the internet grows more multifaceted, a web design degree is increasingly
necessary for finding work in the field. More and more international students are finding themselves
in a web design major every year!

Is a Degree Right for You?

The first thing to consider for your web design degree is what type of degree you’re getting. A
traditional bachelor’s degree in web design is surprisingly rare to come by, though some can be
found at the physical, on-campus locations or online institutions such as
Full Sail University. The majority, though, will be associate’s degrees or
professional certificates, usually granted by a community college or the extension program of a four-year
institution.

So what exactly is a web design major good for? First off, of course, it is a great option for young
international students eager to learn about contributing to the internet during their initial
college education. But, given that it is often a less than four-year commitment, a web design degree
is also a great choice for returning students with some education already under their belt. These
could be graduates in related fields – business, graphic design, etc. – looking to expand their
knowledge of web design to increase their appeal to employers, or even working professionals who
want to get a refresher on the most recent trends and techniques in the business.

Web Design versus Web Development

Whatever your reason for choosing a web design major, one of the first things you’ll have to look at
in your curriculum is the split between classes covering web design and classes covering web
development. Web design means shaping the experience that users actually get on a website, and it
involves coursework in user interface, graphic design, certain coding languages, and more. Web
development, on the other hand, is building the complicated systems behind the scenes that make the
internet work. Web development will include courses on programming, database integration,
server-side languages, and more. The balance between web development and web design should be a
major consideration in choosing a degree in the first place, and once you’re in you should further
tailor your own classes towards whichever one you prefer. Remember that both web designers and web
developers need a working knowledge of the other discipline, so take your classes in both areas
seriously!

Web Design Curriculum

As for the progression of the curriculum itself, a web design degree will follow the typical
scholarly structure of required foundational courses opening up into advanced courses with more
freedom in course choice as international students progress. Early courses will set the very basic
foundation for skills used in web design and development, covering territory such as English
composition, math, and basic art history and theory. The next step is to apply these basics to the
fundamentals of web design and development with classes focusing on the basics of programming,
animation, and web theory. From here on out students will move into more and more advanced classes.
Many web design degrees culminate with a final project that will see a student working either with a
group or alone to create their own functional website.

The web design major is a deep and exciting choice of study for anyone entering college and a worthy
choice for certain professionals looking to expand their knowledge of how the internet works. Take a
look into both on-campus and online programs in the US and see if web design and development is
right for you!

Learn more about studying web design and web development in the USA by reading our growing article collection.

Over time we will be updating this section and including more information for those who want to study
web design and web development in the USA and for other countries, but please feel free to post your thoughts and comments on our
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